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Matt Millen, to prepare for his role as an NFL Network analyst, makes a weekly pilgrimage from his home in Pennsylvania to NFL Films headquarters in Mount Laurel, N.J. It’s about a 90-minute drive, but Millen climbs into his car early every Monday morning so he can watch video of the previous day’s games.

This leads to a long day, but Millen savors the ritual – partly because it allows him to see the latest exploits of Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman.

“I can’t wait to get there every Monday and put on the 49ers‘ tape,” Millen said after he returned home Monday night. “I’m like a little kid.”

Millen played linebacker at Penn State and spent 12 years manning the position in the NFL, including nine seasons with the Raiders and two with the 49ers. He brings some history and insight into the position, in other words.

His blunt if bubbly analysis: Willis and Bowman are not only the best linebackers in the league right now, they’re playing the position as well as anyone since Millen started paying attention more than three decades ago.

That seems over the top, but it’s a point with gathering evidence, and not merely because Willis and Bowman both earned first-team All-Pro honors last season. They’re at it again this year, as the anchors of a 49ers defense that leads the NFL in points allowed (13.6 per game) and ranks second in yards allowed (262.6 per game).

The Jets and Bills learned first-hand the past two weeks, as the 49ers permitted a total of three points – one measly field goal – in rolling to emphatic, back-to-back victories.

In many ways, the equation begins with Willis and Bowman, the next generation of great inside linebackers. They might not growl the way Dick Butkus and Ray Nitschke did. Their eyes do not pop out of their heads, Mike Singletary-like. They do not overflow with rage, a la Ray Lewis.

But they run like the wind, seldom come off the field for a defensive snap – even on third down – and are rapidly becoming accustomed to playing together, after Bowman joined the starting lineup for good last season.

“Here’s why they’re above the rest of the crowd: Most linebackers need schemes, and I see those two guys as stand-alone linebackers,” Millen said. “They don’t need a lineman to jump in the gap and they don’t need special fronts. They don’t need any of that.

“They can stand in a bubble, on an uncovered lineman. They do it physically and with great technique, they disengage from blocks and they get to the ball – and they do it down after down. I tell you, it’s the best linebacker play in the past 30 years.”

Willis, 27, clearly brings more credentials to this conversation. He earned Pro Bowl honors in each of his first five seasons in the NFL, and he already has made first-team All-Pro four times.

Even so, Millen reserved special praise for Bowman, a 24-year-old in his third season as a pro. Bowman also played at Penn State, remember, so that might color Millen’s perspective – but he actually put Bowman ahead of Willis.

“I think Patrick is as good as there is in the league, but I think NaVorro is better,” Millen said. “This is not to take anything away from Patrick. He’s a stud. But I just think NaVorro is playing at that high a level.”

Bowman has offered some highlight-reel moments in the season’s first five games, no question. He snagged his first career interception in the season-opening win at Green Bay, and he ranks fifth in the league with 49 tackles. Willis, not far behind at 42, forced a key fumble in Sunday’s win over Buffalo.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio isn’t quite ready to put Bowman on the same plateau as Willis, though he acknowledged Bowman is “approaching” his more celebrated teammate.

“I don’t think we can say he’s there off a season and five games,” Fangio said. “Patrick’s done it for five or six years, so there’s chronological separation. If NaVorro keeps approaching the game the way he is and keeps working, I can see him getting to that level, or getting damn close.”

The point here was not really to compare Willis and Bowman, but to consult others to glean insight into why they form one of the best linebacker tandems (or the best) in football. Millen provided the essential template, detailing the various skills to set them apart.

Fangio cited Willis’ and Bowman’s athleticism and speed. Safety Donte Whitner said their versatility separates them from other players at the position. Forty-niners linebackers coach Jim Leavitt mentioned reliable tackling, stemming from the strength in their hands and arms.

All true, no doubt, but the biggest distinguishing characteristic by most accounts: speed. Inside linebackers rarely cover ground the way Willis and Bowman do, which helps explain why the 49ers trust them in pass coverage – and why they stay on the field even on 3rd-and-long.

Butkus and Nitschke couldn’t run like this, nor could Singletary and run-stuffing Jack Lambert on those old, great Steelers teams. The NFL has morphed into a spread-out, speed-driven, pass-happy league, which magnifies the importance of the skills that linebackers such as Willis and Bowman offer.

Fangio coached one of best linebacker groups ever in New Orleans in the late 1980s – Pat Swilling, Rickey Jackson, Sam Mills and Vaughan Johnson. Swilling and Jackson had speed, but not really this kind of speed in open space.

Asked to contrast the style of his Saints crew with this 49ers duo, Fangio said, “Maybe these guys are a little more athletic. The game was a little different back then – there was more power running and less spread-out operations.”

The space gives Willis and Bowman room to roam – and keeps Millen entertained on Mondays.